Experts are calling for a full investigation within China to trace the origin of the coronavirus, which has caused devastating consequences around the globe. Beijing, however, denies international scientists access to Wuhan, where the first major outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic occurred at the end of 2019. Beijing’s rigid stance raises suspicions that the Chinese government is trying to cover up evidence that the virus may have accidentally escaped from a laboratory or even been deliberately constructed.
Now leading US infectious agents are warning that China is withholding important data from the world. These are required in order to identify and ward off future pandemics in good time. But China does not allow any further Covid-19 examinations by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the country. This leads to the suspicion that China is trying to cover up something. China categorically rejects a WHO investigation in the country. In June, the State Department stated that Covid-19 “has multiple origins and has erupted in several places”.
China’s Vice Minister of Health Zeng Yixin added last week that there was no such thing as a “man-made virus”. He called himself “extremely surprised” that the international community is calling for further investigations in China. Zeng accused the WHO of “disregarding common sense and arrogance towards science”.
Wuhan in sight
Experts are concerned: “We have already had two coronavirus pandemics originating in China and it is more likely that we will have another coronavirus pandemic originating in China.” That is what Peter Hotez, scientist in the fields of vaccinology and tropical diseases in Houston, promised «Politico». An investigation in China is therefore the “best chance to find out how this virus gets from bats into humans. We can’t do that without going to China. There is no way to get to the bottom of the matter from 8,000 kilometers away. “
But demands from WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (56) to allow another trip after an initial research trip by WHO experts in January fell on deaf ears in China. This first trip was initially blocked by the Chinese and then hindered. China has not granted access to “relevant laboratories and research facilities”, according to Tedros – a disguised reference to the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology, which identified the first human Covid cases in December 2019. Laboratory workers have also reportedly contracted the virus.
“We are in a fight that the virus wins”
China’s blockade is unjustified, says US epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases, Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. The WHO request was “perfectly reasonable”. On the contrary, China’s rejection of an investigation is fueling conspiratorial speculation as to how the virus originated in China: “It leads people to suspect that it is a man-made virus with a deliberate release.”
“We are in a fight that the virus wins,” said Chris Beyrer, professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. China’s stance is “very problematic”. In order to fight this pandemic and prevent future pandemics, one must know how the virus originated. This is the only way to find out how the virus “has adapted so completely to the spread from person to person”. (kes)